April 18, 2010

What’s Blooming – April Edition

I enjoy having something in bloom in my yard for as long as New England weather will allow. I hope to feature this post catagory at least once a month, possibly more often. Due to some unusually high temperatures earlier this month (80’s and 90’s degrees F), some things are a bit further along in my yard than they would usually be in April. Most folks in this part of western Massachuesetts normally have daffodils in bloom near the beginning of April. I generally lament that I don’t get to see mine until the last week of April due to their being planted on the north side of my house, which doesn’t warm up very quickly. Last weekend, before Jennifer and I headed to Cape Cod, I noticed a couple of my daffodils had just opened – April 10th: certainly a record for my yard! Today’s partly cloudy sky turned out to be a good time to photograph the majority of my daffodils, now blooming.

My rhododendron bush is also fully in bloom and alive with the sound of buzzing bumble bees. (How do you like that for alliteration?)

One of my “pride and joys” of my flower garden is my bleeding heart plant. Once it starts growing in spring, it goes quickly and starts setting out delicate little heart-shaped blooms. Right now it is only at about half the size it will reach this growing season, but it already has an abundant amount of the flowers I love.

I’ll feature a shot of the whole plant in a future edition of “What’s Blooming” when it is more mature and stunning in appearance.

Also unusually early this year, the lilacs are begining to bloom. They are just starting, but normally I don’t see fully open lilacs until May. I just love the fragrance of these cheerful flowers. I have them planted all along my driveway, near the entrance to my house, on the corner of the house as you head toward the backyard, and even one in a somewhat shadowy corner of my backyard that tends to bloom a bit later than the others. I’ll have more shots of these in May, but here’s one showing the promise of what is to come.

While I was outside, I decided to grab my Raynox, my Gorillapod and my CCRRFD and try a few macros on the flowers in bloom. With the Raynox, a gentle breeze can look like a 50 mph wind when you are trying to focus. I battled the gentle breeze in strange and uncomfortable positions trying to get some half-way decent shots. Here’s what I came up with that I was willing to post.

This is the edge of a rhododendron petal:

The top edge of one of the bleeding hearts:

And the bottom “dangly part” of a bleeding heart.

Hopefully, Mother Nature will allow me to have many more beautiful blooms to share with you this spring and summer.

That second shot of the daffodil is far and away my favorite! Very pretty. With flowers, I’ve found it’s always better to be up close and personal. 🙂
Macros are tough outdoors, aren’t they?! The slightest breeze can ruin the shot. Even indoors, the footsteps on the floor are frustrating. Everyone is banished from the room when I’m doing macros.
Good luck with the blog and have fun! 🙂

Yes, things that can be caught in a breeze don’t photograph well with the macro lens. I may have to stick to more stationery type objects when I am outdoors with the Raynox – or hope for a rare, wind-free day!

[…] sunny and warm. Have a look at some pictures I took during this week of last year of some blooms around my yard and my neighbor’s beautiful tree. More than a year later, we have a very different […]